This invention is directed to the problem of unauthorized use of utilities such as electricity, gas or water in vacant premises. Such use may occur when a house is sold or a tenant moves out of a flat, e.g., apartment or the like. While applicable to most utilities, the invention will be described in terms of the electricity supply to a flat.
The vacating occupier should notify the supply authority which arranges to read the meter to prepare a final account. If use is made of the electricity supply after that time but before the ene occupier moves in, the new occupier may be required to pay for electricity he did not use.
One method of overcoming this is to disconnect the supply when the flat is vacated and to reconnect it when the new occupant moves in. However, this is costly and inconvenient as it requires two visits by the linesman.
In our earlier Australian Patent Application No. 586716, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,010, the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference, we disclosed a utility management system in which a utility control center is connected to the consumer's meters via the telephone network. The control center is able to read the meters and send command signals to the consumer's premises, e.g., to perform off-peak switching. In a preferred embodiment the meter readings are stored in electronic memories under the control of a micro-processor.
The present invention proposes a system which offers a simpler and more convenient solution to the problem of unauthorized use.